


Found and Lost

by Haberdasher



Category: Elsewhere University (Webcomic)
Genre: Gen, Nonbinary Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-13
Updated: 2017-09-13
Packaged: 2018-12-27 08:27:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12077358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Haberdasher/pseuds/Haberdasher
Summary: The tale of an Elsewhere University student who was Taken and then returned.





	Found and Lost

Nobody knew why Trivia had been Taken.

Trivia was a fairly unexceptional student, at least by Elsewhere University standards. Ze wasn’t a musician, or a dancer, or a writer, or in possession of any number of other talents that were known to attract the Gentry. Ze got middling grades and had little in the way of friends, to the point where it took several days before anyone realized that Trivia was Taken at all. Trivia showed no inclination towards the forbidden major, and most rumors suggested that ze wasn’t even aware of the strangeness that pervaded the campus, let alone Involved.

But then, the Fair Folk did have their own form of logic, and trying to understand Their decisions as a human was a fool’s errand. Trivia must have done something to attract Them, or to earn Their ire, or both; what that might have been, the other students could only guess.

Trivia was Taken early in the fall, well before midterms, when the trees were just starting to change color. The changeling that took zir place did a decent enough job of blending in, and by the time spring break had rolled around, half the campus had forgotten that Trivia was missing at all.

(From what little Trivia had said about zir home life, it sounded as though ze had no home away from campus, no parents to return to, no relatives that would miss zir over the various school breaks or notice if the being that returned wasn’t the one that had been dropped off.)

When May rolled around and the spring semester was in its dying throes, however, the RAs performed their annual duty of returning the Taken to their rightful place back at the university. Trivia was on the list of those gone missing, and ze was by all accounts returned without any fuss.

The return of the Taken was always a momentous occasion, at least for those who Knew enough to know of its passing. Some newly-returned students wrapped their arms in tight embraces around those who they hadn’t seen for months, while others kissed their beloveds to mark their reunion. The air filled with screams- some of joy, some of shock- and cries- some of sorrow, some of relief.

But Trivia made no move to participate in this spectacle.

Ze stood in one spot, far from the center of the ruckus, and stared off into space, zir eyes dark and solemn.

When someone finally thought to ask Trivia whether something was wrong, ze replied in a few short words, zir voice weak and hoarse but passionate: “I want to go back.”

Arguments were presented to Trivia, various proofs that they should rejoice upon returning to zir own realm, but every time someone spoke to zir, ze simply shook zir head and repeated: “I want to go back.”

The chaos died down after some time, and the newly-returned students all went on their way before too long. Trivia remained in place until everyone else had left.

A few people claimed to have witnessed zir moving at last, heading towards one of the spots on campus where shadows danced and multiplied while their casters remained unseen, one of the spots which most students avoided at all costs.

What happened after that, none can say for certain.

What is known, however, is that neither Trivia nor a being wearing Trivia’s face showed up to attend school that fall.


End file.
